Pokemon Apocalypse
by LemurKat
Summary: A long-awaited follow-up to Kataryna's Pokémon Jungle. Kataryna wakes up in darkness. Her last memory is of her and her friends releasing thousands of Pokémon from a research facility, and the evil villain, Loki, descending upon her. She's hooked up to various machines, machines that have kept her alive for... how long? And what has happened to the world?


It was cold and the light was so bright, too bright. I blinked my eyes closed, feeling it burn against my retinas. Where was I? I tried to sit up, but I couldn't move. There were things jabbing into my skin, Through half-slitted eyes I regarded them. Needles.

What the hell was going on? I began to struggle but my body felt weirdly weak. Feeble.

"Don't." The voice came soft, soothing, the voice of a child. "You'll hurt yourself." A hand on my arm, fingers stroking.

My eyes, gradually, adjusted to the light, focused, bringing into clarity a girl. She could not be more than 11 or 12. Her hair fell shoulder length in copper-red curls and her eyes were a bright and oh-too-familiar blue. Blue, like those of Loki, my nemesis.

Loki, whom in my last memory before waking, had been him – now a mutated being, halfway to a god – descending from the sky, his recently-acquired wings blazing fire.

"Who are you?" The words croaked out of my dry throat.

"I"ll get you some water." The girl walked out of my line of sight, returning a few short minutes later with a glass and a straw. "Here."

I tried to rise, to sip it, but even that made my head spin in uncomfortable loops and swirls. My last memory had been of Loki snatching me away, as sirens roared and newly released Pokemon fled. My friends – Kameron (my boyfriend), sweet-natured Coral, Doctor Francis Warwick, Rowan and all of our assorted Pokemon – and I had been investigating a secret laboratory hidden in the heart of Tasmania's rainforest. Whilst we had sought to rescue the last of the seven Mews, the Mew of the Underground, we had failed in our mission to find her. Instead, we had released the poor captives, many of whom had been affected by experimentation with the horrible shadow stone. What had happened then? Had Kameron and the others escaped? And who was this child? With hair like copper fire and eyes the same as Loki's. Had he a little sister, all this time?

The girl inserted the straw between my lips. "I'm Evangeline," she said. "But you can call me Eva."

I sipped deep. Water had never tasted so sweet. How long had I been unconscious? I gulped and gulped, relishing the cool feel of moisture against my parched throat.

"I'm Kataryna," I said, my voice sounding much stronger. "Kat."

"I know," Eva giggled. "I've been looking after you forever."

Forever? I tried to drag myself up into a sitting position but found that I was too weak. My arms were little more than skin clinging to the bone, with very little muscle and next to no fat. "Eva," I whispered, tone becoming urgent. "How long is forever?"

Eva shrugged. "All my life," she replied. "Papa used to bring me to visit you when I was a baby. Not that I remember that." Her forehead creased. "So, at least ten years. Maybe more."

Ten years! I had been asleep – or unconscious, or whatever this was – for ten years! My heart raced and something began making bleeping noises. I must've been in a coma, I'd read about them in books, even seen them in movies. But... Oh... My... God. Did this mean Loki had won? Or had Kameron and the others gone on to stop him? Could they stop him? I wasn't so arrogant to think that they couldn't save the world without my assistance but still... And Kameron! Was he looking for me? He would be an adult now. Maybe he was married, with children.

Oh my God. Ten years! That meant... that meant I must be almost 30. Thirty! Ten years had been stolen from me.

I think I must have been flailing, because Eva was shouting, trying to pacify me. "Calm down, please calm down. Papa'll wake up and you don't want Papa to wake. Please, calm down." The shouting didn't really help, but the urgency in her tone, the hint of fear, made me stop. Lie still.

"Eva," I said, keeping my voice as calm as I could. "Eva, do you have a mirror?" I know it sounds arrogant, but I can assure you, it was not. I wouldn't fully believe, or comprehend the truth, until I saw myself.

Eva nodded. "Please," she said, patting me on my all but skeletal arm. "I know it's scary, and that's really big news I've just told you, but I've been waiting my whole life for you to wake up. Papa said you would, eventually, when the time was ready."

Ready for what? And who was Papa? Her eyes and certain other features held a familiarity that made me feel sick and hollow in the pit of my stomach. I had an inkling, but was afraid to put my thoughts into words.

After all he had done to himself, twisting his body with the power of stolen Pokemon, could Loki have conceived a child? I felt a sadness for the poor mother, having to lie with mutated monstrosity he had become – and yes, I will agree, looks are not everything, and love can come in all shapes and sizes, but Loki was a megalomaniac, his soul and spirit as twisted and dark as his body. I could only hope Eva's mother had been a willing participant in the proceedings.

That brought other alarming thoughts to mind. If I had been lying here, unconscious, for ten years... entirely at Loki's mercy...

Thankfully, the dark direction my thoughts were taking were interrupted, as Eva thrust a small mirror in my face. It was the hand held kind that dentists like to use when they show you what teeth they're about to drill. I took it off her, clutching it in fingers that looked like claws.

What it revealed was not exactly pleasant. I found myself staring into the eyes of a stranger. Sure, they were the same blue with a hint of green that I was used to, and my lips and nose were still, more or less as I remembered, but my head had been closely cropped, which only accentuated my hollow cheeks and made my eyes look enormous. It wasn't so much that I'd aged – truth be told, that was the least of my concerns – I looked like a skeleton giving flesh.

Then again, I clearly hadn't eaten a decent meal in ten years; what could I expect?

The tubes and needles studding my arm must be all that had kept me alive.

Eva perched behind me on the bed, and I realised, with sickening certainty, that her hair was almost the exact same shade of red-gold as my own. Maybe slightly lighter, but the resemblance was uncanny.

She stroked her fingers across my prickly scalp and pressed her lips against my forehead in a butterfly-whisper of a kiss. "I'm glad you've woken up, mama," she whispered. "Now we can finally escape."

I think I might have fainted then, to have my worst fears confirmed, but I'd spent so long asleep already, it would be a waste. Instead I took a deep breath, clenched my hands into fists (that still worked, at least) and closed my eyes for a long moment, fighting to compose myself.

"I can't," I finally managed to say.

"You can't?" Eva's forehead creased in confusion. "You want to stay here?"

I pointed at my skinny arms, and down at what I expected were my equally atrophied legs. "I don't think I'll be walking for a while, yet."

"Oh," Eva looked disappointed.

"Is it that bad here?" So far all I could see were walls and medical equipment. The walls were rough cast and rugged, as though the room had been hacked into the rock – an underground cavern, perhaps? The medical equipment... while I suppose I could thank that for handling all my body functions for the last ten-plus years (UGH). "Is your papa mean to you?"

"Papa's not often here," Eva explained, and I sighed a little in relief. Perhaps I wouldn't have to face him until I was better prepared. "And when he does, he's mostly asleep. But it's boring, and lonely. All I have are books and television, and Ampharos."

Ampharos? "You have a Pokemon?"

A nod. "Ampharos is my only friend," she continued. "Papa says we need him to keep the battery charged up, so we can have power, but he also stays with me at night – his light helps to keep the nightmares away. I taught him how to read," she added. "After I taught myself. Papa is too busy to be a good teacher."

Somehow, I wasn't surprised, then I remembered what Eva had said earlier. "But Papa is here now?"

She nodded. "He comes home every few weeks to sleep. It takes a lot of energy to be a god," she added, quite matter-of-factly. "And here's the only place he feels safe. Do you think you would be all right if I were to unplug these things? You're not going to die or anything?"

I was malnourished and pale, but I didn't feel like I was imminently at risk of death. Besides, I really, really, didn't want to remain here at Loki's mercy. I nodded. "Just be gentle."

Eva was very gentle, her fingers brushing my skin as she eased out the various needles, dabbing the blood away with cotton swabs and applying plasters. A practised hand, for one so young. "I've been looking after you for years," she explained. "Since I turned seven. Papa said I was a big girl enough to move the needles and change your bags."

A nurse at seven-years old, the poor girl – my daughter! – had never had a proper childhood. She'd never gone on adventures, training Pokemon with her friends, exploring forests and deserts. And never had to save the world from egotistical maniacs...

Perhaps some childhoods weren't all they were cracked up to be.

Freed of my bindings, and with the bleeping machine finally fallen silent, I managed to find the energy to sit up – bolstered with pillows – and study the rest of my body. My legs were, alas, as withered and weak as my arms, although Eva assured me that she had (with Ampharos's help) turned me regularly and massaged my limbs to help them keep me free of bedsores and retain some semblance of muscle-tone. It did not seem to have helped much, but I wasn't going to blame her. She was only a child! No, if anyone was to blame, it was Loki. How had he kept me unconscious so long, and what had he done to me while I was in the coma? I shuddered to think, focussing instead on Eva. I still couldn't wrap my head around the fact that I – we, me and my arch-enemy! – had a daughter.

I had always thought that Kameron and I might have children, one day. Perhaps a daughter like this one – although she'd probably have darker features. But me and Loki. I felt a conflicting mix of defilement (which I tried hard not to think too much about), combined with pride that – despite growing up with literally no motherly influence – Eva seemed to be turning out all right. She might have my hair, and certain other similarities in her features, but she was still a complete stranger. I wasn't sure I was ready to become a mother – Hell, as far as I remembered, I hadn't even finished being a teenager.

Now, it seemed unlikely I would ever see Kameron again.

"Are you alright?" Eva asked. I must have fallen into contemplative silence for too long, but honestly, I'd experienced a lot of sudden and quite shattering revelations in a short period of time. I believe I was handling things quite well, all things considered.

"Um, it's just a lot to take in," I said. "My life has changed a lot and very suddenly. The last thing I remember happened over ten years ago."

Eva nodded sagely. "The Genesis of the Change," she said. "That's what Papa calls it."

How very biblical of him, I thought, but did not say. "Eva," I wondered, "I had friends then, friends who probably wonder what happened to me. I'd like to contact them, to tell them that I'm okay." Or alive, at least, I wasn't yet 100% sure that I was okay, or would ever be okay again. Loki had won, and clearly now considered himself a god. Excuse me if I was a little cautious. "Do you have the internet?"

Eva's brow furrowed. "The internet? What's that?"

I sighed. I suppose it was too much to hope that Loki might let his sheltered daughter have access to the big wide world. She'd probably lived in this underground bunker – if that's what it was – her entire life. "How did you teach yourself to read?"

"Television," she replied. "There was a program, where they taught the letters of the alphabet, using Pokemon puppets. A is for Ampharos, B is for Bellossom, that sort of thing."

I knew that show. Had television really not progressed much further in twenty years?

"Are you hungry?" Eva asked suddenly. "Papa said you got all the nutrients you needed through the bags, but well, you don't have the bags any more. Would you like a sandwich?"

Would I? My stomach felt hollow and I seemed to have gone beyond hunger. "Yes, yes please." A sandwich, I hadn't eaten a sandwich in years. "Um, no meat, if that's okay."

"What's meat?" Eva asked. "We have cheese and lettuce," she added. "And some tomatoes. Is that okay?"

What's meat? Was it too much to hope that Loki had raised his child – our child! – without even the concept of eating Pokemon flesh? I hadn't eaten it since my parents had, unwittingly, revealed where it came from, although my Pokemon had still consumed fish: magikarp and goldeen, mostly. They were common, and bred fast and, well, you couldn't force a carnivore into a vegetarian diet just because it went against your values. My thoughts were digressing again, I realised, in an effort to try and distract me from the rather heavy truths of reality. "That's fine. Great," I replied quickly, and Eva scampered away.

With her gone, I decided to try something that was, perhaps, a bit on the foolhardy side. Using the bar beside the bed, I managed to manoeuvre myself so that my skeletal legs dangled over the side of the bed, then tried, still clutching the bar, to lower myself onto my feet.

My legs wouldn't support my weight, and crumpled beneath me, almost wrenching my equally weak arms out of their sockets and depositing me in a sobbing, hopeless pile on the floor. I felt like a puppet whose strings had been cut.

Eva came back in to find me sobbing on the floor. "Oh mama!" she cried. "Don't be sad. We'll fix you up, won't we Ampharos?" Through my tear-stained vision, I saw the proud yellow Pokemon with his striped ears and red jewel. He nodded. Between him and Eva, they managed to help me upright, and held me erect.

"What am I supposed to do?" I sobbed, tears staining my cheeks. I collapsed into a seated position on the bed. "I'm old. I'm broken. Loki won."

Eva wrapped her arms around me. "It'll be alright," she said. "You'll see. Here, eat this, it'll make you feel better."

The sandwich was not what I had remembered: the bread was thick and dry, the texture (and possibly taste) of cardboard. The tomato so pale that it must be anaemic. The cheese didn't taste like cheese at all, and the lettuce seemed to have a chlorophyll problem and, like the tomato, was drained of colour. It may have been over a decade since I'd eaten an actual meal, thus it was possible my taste buds had deteriorated like the rest of me. Eva watched with an intent expression, so proud of her presentation that I attempted – not very well – to fake enthusiasm as I ate it. She saw right through my deception and looked disappointed.

"Not as you remembered, I guess," Eva muttered. "We grow them ourselves: the tomato and the lettuce that is. Papa says they're not as good as they were before the Genesis."

I was liking the sound of this Genesis less and less. I did my best to finish up the sandwich.

The next few days – weeks, even – were too unpleasant to recount in any detail. Suffice to say, it hurt. About the only pleasant experience amongst the list was having a hot, hot bath. Even if I had to be carried by Ampharos and placed into the water. If nothing else, it seemed that Loki, self proclaimed god and master of fire, was able to provide hot water. Afterwards, Eva presented me with a long t-shirt and a bathrobe. The t-shirt had to be one of Loki's, but thankfully seemed to have been cleaned, and the bathrobe looked like it had been nicked from a high-end hotel, even down to the "TT" embroidered in the corner.

It was a pity, however, that Loki was unable to manage particularly tasty produce. Mostly we ate potatoes, carrots and mushrooms, the vegetables that, Eva informed me, apparently were the best since the Genesis. All vegetables that grew underground, as you might have noticed. I speak about food, because I'm avoiding the mention of other things. About how my body no longer felt like my own. Due to the lack of muscle-tone, my bones no longer had much in the way of padding and I felt, overall, more fragile. Also, there was the added problem of Loki.

"Papa sleeps a lot," Eva explained. "Not as long as you, of course, but he can sleep for days and days."

Now, I must confess, had I been slightly more mobile, I might well have entertained the notion of killing him in his sleep. But, even though I didn't really know her, and I hated him, I wouldn't, couldn't, do such a thing in front of a child. His child. My child. Aargh, I still struggled to get my head around _that_ concept.

He slept, I ate potatoes and far too many mushrooms (I mean, I like mushrooms as much as the next vegetarian, but for breakfast, lunch and dinner? Yeh, you can understand my reservations). Luckily, I also grew stronger, and by the second day, finally managed to stand, with the aid of one of those wheeled carts. Ick, I felt like an old lady, but I managed a few shaky steps.

"You're doing great," Eva urged. I pulled a face. "Really, you are," she insisted. "Would you like to come into my playroom? It has television and a bookcase and everything."

How could I refuse? Not only did she seem eager to show me, but it would be nice to be in more comfortable surroundings. Plus I'd really like to watch television – I had ten years of news to catch up with for a start. And I really, really, wanted to find out what manner of chaos Loki had wrought in the past decade. I could only hope that Kameron, the Mews, and my other friends had thwarted the worst of his endeavours.

The playroom was rather pleasant, for a cave. With the aid of Ampharos, I comfortably seated myself on a two-seater couch, designed to resemble a snorlax and adorned with jigglypuff cushions. The walls – rough hewn like my ward – were surrounded with bookcases and decorated with an array of posters. Some featuring Pokemon – including one of the "world-famous" Ash and his pikachu, others exotic landscapes or characters from television shows that were popular when I was a child. Although the floor was as rough hewn as the walls, it was covered in an array of rugs and fleeces, a patchwork of colour and styles. Soft toys jostled for space along the tops of the bookcases, which held not only books but a large amount of boardgames.

"Ampharos plays with me," Eva informed me. "But he totally sucks at chess."

"Amph-aros," her electric sheep commented. "Amp, ampharos."

"Oh shush," Eva replied. "I'm not that good. I know you like to let me win."

I frowned. I hadn't understood Ampharos at all. Before my long sleep, I had acquired several talents, including the ability to more-or-less understand Pokemon speech (which was more about intonation and posture, rather than the actual words) and proclaimed myself a "Pokemon Friend" rather than a Pokemon Trainer. Maybe it was just because I didn't have a bond with Ampharos – and Eva had practically been raised by him, after all. That must be it.

"Are you all right?" Eva wondered, sensing my discomposure.

I shrugged. "Yes. I'm fine. Just... well, it's been a pretty rough day."

Eva shot me a dazzling smile. "I understand," she said. "Would you like to watch television? I find that makes me feel better when I'm a bit sad." The television was a flat screen, bolted to the wall above one of the bookcases. It was, to put things lightly, massive. Almost like a private movie screen. Loki might be many things, none of them good, but it appeared he was an indulgent father, who had not skimped on providing his daughter with as many creature comforts as he could provided, of course, that she remain within this... compound?

Eva tumbled beside me on the couch. "Are you hungry?" she asked.

I was, despite the poor quality of the food, my appetite had returned with wicked vengeance. "Please," I said.

"Amph-ampharos." The electric sheep nodded his head, agreeing to the unspoken request, and departed. Eva fumbled around behind the cushions and produced a remote.

"What would you like to watch? We've got a ton of DVDs."

"Do you have the news?" I asked.

She shook her head. "Just DVDs."

Not only was Loki showering her with gifts, he appeared to be sheltering her from the world as well.

"How about you choose one of your favourites?"

She nodded and fussed around, and soon I found myself watching one of Ash's innumerable adventures. One that I remembered, the one with Articuno, Zapdos and Moltres.

I'd also met the legendary birds, helped to restore them to the world after Loki had attempted to manipulate them to doing his bidding. But you didn't see them making movies about me, did you just? Me, Kameron and Maki, saving the world and defeating our evil Team Rocket duo: Loki and Freyja, time and time again.

What had happened to Maki? My little lemur Pokemon? Was he still alive? I hoped he and Kameron were still together. Still thwarting Team Rocket. Still thinking of me occasionally.

"Why do you want to leave, Eva?" I asked the question again, now that we were comfortably seated, watching Ash, Brock and Misty set out on yet another of their legendary adventures. I had a sneaking suspicion I knew the answer.

"I want to go on a Pokemon journey," she said. "And be a Pokemon Trainer like Ash, and," she looked up into my eyes, "like you, mama."

She was sweet, and compassionate, but every time I looked into those big blue eyes it made me think of him: everything he'd done to me and Kameron in the past, and what he must've done, while I'd been at his mercy. I had to draw my gaze away, focussing instead on one of the fluffy pink carpets. "People still go on Pokemon journeys?" I wondered aloud. Although then again, why wouldn't they? Could the world have really changed that much since I fell into my long sleep?

"Oh yes," Eva exclaimed. "See." She pointed at the television screen. "I'd love to be able to choose my own starter Pokemon. What was yours?"

"A makimur," I replied, feeling a pang of sadness at my missing friend. "They're not a traditional starter. What would you choose?"

She shrugged. "I dunno. There's so many to choose from! I think a fire type. Papa says fire types are the strongest. Maybe litten?"

Of course Loki would favour fire types. But litten? "I've not heard of that one," I replied.

"Really? You've never been to Alola?"

I shook my head. "Where is it?"

"A bunch of islands," she replied, jumped from the couch and came back carrying several books, one of which was an updated Pokemon encyclopaedia. It was missing a lot of the Pokemon I was familiar with: dragosi, orka and about a billion eevee evolutions, but contained a remarkably large amount of ones unfamiliar to me. Litten was cute – a little like a black and red meowth. A fire and dark type, I was informed. That seemed an unusual sort of starter, but who knew? I had been asleep a long time. The world had probably changed.

Eva was just showing me Alola's location on a map, when Ampharos returned, bearing a tray of potatoes stuffed with mushrooms and plastic cheese. I ate like the starving invalid that I was. My taste buds might be planning to revolt, but my stomach and body clearly sensed what was needed. We were partway through when I heard footsteps, heavy boot falls, on the rock outside the curtained doorway.

Ampharos was here, Eva was here, to the best of my knowledge they were otherwise alone, that meant...

...Loki entered the chamber.

When I'd first met Loki he'd been a slender man with silver-white hair and a pinched, fox-like face. Now, a handful-or-so of drained Mews later, and he had changed – and not for the better. He still had the fox-like face and piercing blue eyes – although his pupils now blazed with his dominant element, fire – but his body – or at least the visible bits, and there were quite a few of those, given he wore nothing but the towel wrapped around his waist – was entirely devoid of hair. No eyebrows, no stubble, no chest hair. His skin held a faintly greenish-tint, probably chlorophyll inherited from the rainforest Mew. Fiery, feathery wings wrapped his shoulders like a cloak.

"Ah," he said, as those alien eyes focused on me. "I see my sleeping beauty has finally woken. Took you long enough. And I see you've met young Evangeline. I'm very proud of her."

His smile was still as wickedly charming as ever. Eva beamed back. For all that she wanted to escape, she clearly had a fondness for her evil, vindictive and malevolent father. This could put a dampener on our relationship.

If only I had something to throw at him. "I can understand why," I replied, as calmly as I could manage (although I am afraid to say, there was a certain edge to it, my body might be crippled, but my tongue still had its barbs). "She's kind, considerate, and displays a level of empathy which she certainly didn't inherit from her father."

Eva looked faintly shocked, which made me really wonder what Loki had told her about our relationship. Did she not, perhaps, realise that we were bitter enemies? That from the first moment we'd met he'd tried to first, steal my Maki, then, on numerous occasions, to kill me? Until, finally, he took it upon himself to harness elemental powers (stealing it from the seven Mews) and transform himself into a being of ultimate power? And that's not even mentioning his experimentation with the shadow stones, warped stones that tore the Pokemon's soul from its body and casting it into a terrible half-life?

Yep, you've probably noticed, I'm pretty good at bearing grudges and feel a tad bitter about things.

Loki merely shrugged it away, regarding me with his head cocked to one side. "Like mother, like daughter then?" he queried. "Thank Arceus she didn't inherit your tongue. But I suppose that's all you've got left now, isn't it? I mean, look at you?"

I hugged the bathrobe tight about me, as though that might somehow protect me from the scorn in his penetrating eyes. "You did this to me," I replied.

He stepped closer, and I shrunk away from his hand, but all I had to throw was one of the cushions – well, they do call them 'throw' cushions, right? He caught it, his reflexes lightning quick before stepping forward and grabbing my wrist with his hand. Squeezing so I could feel the bones grinding together. "I did, didn't I? All it took was a daily infusion of sleeping dust in your drip. But alas, sleeping dust has become rather a scarce resource now. I drew it out as long as I could but, well, I suppose we all have to wake up to reality some time." He snorted. "I always liked you, Kataryna. Oh, you frustrated me endlessly, interrupting my plans and sticking your nose into places where it really should have got chopped off, but I admired your determination, your stubborn desire to never give up, even when it would have been better for you in the long run." He turned his attention to Eva, who had been watching the display in wide-eyed fascination. She'd probably never seen this side of her precious papa. "Evangeline," he suggested, his tone sickeningly sweet, "it's time to do your chores, sweetie. Take Ampharos with you, he'll need to charge the sun stone."

Eva gave me a faintly startled look, and I really, really didn't want to be left alone with Loki. He'd already, obviously, violated me once, and the thought that he might do it again – and this time I wouldn't be asleep – made me shiver. And when I say shiver, I'm not talking that chill you get down your back when you're a wee bit cold – I'm talking about the involuntary, incessant shivering that comes when your adrenaline has peaked, warning you to 'run, run, run' but you cannot. I was shivering so hard that my teeth rattled.

"Go Evangeline." Loki's words were cold and hard, and Eva must have been at least a little afraid of her father, because she cast me a pleadingly look, almost begging my forgiveness, grabbed Ampharos by the hand, and departed.

Loki waited until the curtain fell behind her. Then he folded himself elegantly into the couch beside me. I crawled into the corner as far from him as possible and pondered trying to run, but my limbs felt so brittle that I was afraid I might fall and break something, putting myself entirely at his wicked mercy. Instead I tried to hermit myself into the dressing gown, like a shuckle retreating into its shell.

"MY daughter," he said, emphasising the "my". "Has been brought up with everything she needs and is happy here. Now that you are awake, you may wish to enforce your negative attitude upon her. Don't. I brought you here because I had a use for you. That purpose has now been fulfilled, and I kept you alive out of compassion and asleep because once you were awake I knew you'd prove to be endlessly frustrating." He reached over for the remote and flicked a few buttons, then a few more. Ash and his friends and their colourful adventures disappeared, replaced with a grainy image that jerked and blurred every other second. "Would you wish for her to be exposed to this?"

It was difficult to focus, as buried amongst static as it was, but I could make out a city in ruin, smoke and fire billowing forth from the skeletal remains of the broken buildings, tumbled like a child's playthings into a shimmering, rippling pool.

"That is Cerulean City," he replied. "And that, I think you will realise, is what happens when a peaceful seaside city is struck by several earthquakes – magnitude 8.4 and 8.1 respectively – followed by a 10m tsunami wave." He pointed. "Look." Between the buildings, some distance from the ocean, lay the carcass of a wailord, its ribs exposed to the sky and being picked at by... murkrow? Dark avian shapes that I could not quite discern as they blinked and blurred in and out of focus. "Seven kilometers inland," Loki grinned, proud at his gruesome achievement. "Of the 240, 000 people that lived there, only 326 survived."

I gaped at him. "You destroyed it?" He was lying. He had to be lying! I'd been to Cerulean City. It was beautiful, with its water parks and fountains. Now, almost everyone... dead. "Why?"

"Oh dear Kataryna," Loki replied, running his fingers down my cheek, tracing trails of fiery heat. I slapped them away. "You've been away a long time. The world, well, it's changed, I think you'll see."

"But... why?" My shivering was now so bad that I had to struggle to get out the words. "Why destroy a city?"

"Why not?" Loki leaned back and crossed one foot across his thigh. This is not, I should point out, something that any respectful member of society should do whilst clad only in a towel. "Because I can? To make a point? All valid reasons, so take your pick."

"None of those are valid." I clenched my teeth to stop them chattering. Oh my god. Cerulean destroyed... Where else had Loki destroyed? Loki flicked the switch again. A mountain, or what had once been a mountain, now crumpled in on itself, slopes burning with bubbling magma.

"Alola," he said. "A series of islands created by volcanoes, that brought land forth from the sea. And what the fire brings, the fire can take away. Population, prior, 1 million. Now, a mere 457. Ain't population control grand?"

Another flick, and a new image appeared, this one mainly churning ocean studded with a few black rocks. "The Orange Islands. Gone!" He laughed. "I melted the ice caps, and threw in a tsunami for good measure. What fun. Now only the mountains remain above water." He sighed. "Unfortunately, most of the islands were unoccupied."

My heart, almost stilled from panic exhaustion, gave a frantic kick. There was one special island amongst the archipelago, an island of freed Pokemon, ex-captives unable to fully release their domesticity. They were watched over by one of the most legendary Pokemon of all, Mewtwo, and several of my friends – including the drained Mews – had been offered sanctuary there. What had become of them? The island had featured a tall mountain; I could only hope that they had sought sanctuary up its slopes.

Again and again the image flicked, and Loki repeated his tales of massive natural disasters, vast numbers of casualties. "Why?" I kept asking. "Why would you destroy everything?"

Finally, Loki ceased flicking and, with one hand, twisted my eyes to meet his. I fought to look away, but his grip was powerful, infused with the energy of almost all the Mews. "Because they wouldn't take me seriously," he said. "I offered them the choice: surrender to me, worship me, but they just laughed in my face."

"Who did you offer?"

"All of them: presidents, prime ministers, even dictators. No-one would believe me. Not even when I sent earthquakes and tsunamis and hurricanes to prove to them that I had the power! Oh, some of them fought back. Some president fired a nuke, but I blew it away, and it destroyed most of Liechtenstein instead. Oops. That caused a bit of conflict, upped the political-ante, you might say. Then they were too busy bickering amongst themselves to pay attention to me."

"If you've destroyed the world," I said, my voice growing increasingly frantic, even as I sought for calm – I didn't want to antagonise someone who could, literally, flatten cities. "Where the hell are we now?"

"Oh," he said with a shrug, "Aotearoa."

"Where?" I thought back to what felt like only a few weeks ago, when we'd been pouring through maps to try and track down the Mew sisters. "Isn't that near Tasmania?"

"Correct," he said, rather flippantly. "Tasmania's gone. Ground zero, more-or-less. But Aotearoa, a forgotten, abandoned island in the South Pacific."

"Isn't it occupied? And two islands?"

"More than that actually," Loki grinned, exposing his sharp canines. "Historically, in any case. Now? Not so much. Had a couple of advantages over the other islands – no wild Pokemon, for a start, just some ferals released by unscrupulous traders. And as for the occupied bit? Well, it is on the ring of fire."

I gulped.

"Quite. Tore the southern island in half with an earthquake, erupted a couple of volcanoes in the north, and their government declared a national evacuation. Not sure what happened. Australia wouldn't take them, they had enough problems of their own, what with all the fire storms and hurricanes. Probably still floating about in their cruise ships, but good luck to them with finding an inhabitable island in the South Pacific. Well, there's always Antarctica. It's warming up nicely now I've melted away the ice." He stroked his chin. "Now where was I, before I digressed? Oh yes. Anyway, they abandoned their islands – or what was left of them – and I moved in with my daughter to raise her in peace and relative harmony."

Something over his shoulder caught my eye, a quick flick of an image on the television. A group of people, standing on a pile of rubble, digging with spades and their hands. Amongst them was a houndoom. And beside it, a figure with long dark hair and wearing a long trench coat. My heart lurched. Kameron? Lucifer? Could it be? Lucifer had been a tiny houndour pup last time I'd seen him, with big feet that it was likely he'd grown into. I tried not to show too much reaction – I didn't want Loki to look too hard, to maybe recognise them too. "Where is this?" I asked, trying to sound shaken.

He laughed. "Your old town. Siryntown! Didn't you recognise it? That was the college. I must confess, I paid it special attention. Of course, this was filmed oh, six years ago now. My time does fly when one is having fun."

I cringed and shuddered. Six years...that was a long time when the world was falling apart. Still, Kameron, if it were indeed him (and I really shouldn't let my hopes get too high), had survived the original onslaught; there was a good chance he was still alive now. I sought the other figures, seeking recognition: Rowan, Doctor Francis? But the closest I got was a glimpse of a beautiful ninetales that could, plausibly, be Rowan's Mercury. But what did it matter? Six years... A lot could have changed.

"Oh dear." Loki faked sympathy, patting me on the shoulder. "I'm afraid I've given you rather a lot to deal with. I hope you're not feeling too overwhelmed."

My stomach felt like a hollow pit – and not just because I was half starved – my pulse and heart raced like a rapidash, and the dread rested heavily in me, bringing with it a hearty dose of nausea.

"What happens now?" I ventured. "What are you going to do to me?"

Loki studied me, flames flickered in his pupils, a sharp contrast to the vibrant blue of the iris. His forehead furrowed and his lips twisted into his characteristic mischievous grin. "Why, my dear, I think we might just have to fatten you up and get you back on your feet. But why? Well, that is not your business, not yet at any rate! Let's just say, that there's a rattata out there somewhere, and you're my cheese."

So, I was to be bait then... Still, at least that brought some hope – if he needed me for bait, then there was clearly someone out there that might actually take it. Not that I planned on waiting around for it. No, my plan was: Get healthy, get fit. Get out.

Loki paused and cocked his head to one side, as though listening intently – although I had heard nothing. A strange expression crossed his features and he unfurled himself from the sofa with the grace of a persian, stalking across the chamber. "My little pidgey," he cooed, his voice sounding sickly, sarcastically sweet. "What did I tell you about spying on me?"

The slap-slap-slap of bared feet on stone. Loki's pupils flared bright orange, and static electricity started dancing across his bald head. He stalked across the room like a predatory beast and swept aside the curtain.

"Evangeline? I'm not going to hurt you my dear." He disappeared out, into the corridor.

I levered myself upright, and gingerly placed my feet to the floor. Although my legs still felt as brittle as sun-bleached twigs, I found I could stand, and even take a few unaided steps. There was precious little in the room that could be used as a weapon; I very much doubted cushions, plush toys or DVD cases would dissuade Loki.

"Run Eva," I whispered, almost pleading. "Run and hide." Would he hurt her? His own daughter? Surely not?

But then again, he was a sociopathic monster...

"Kataryna," a voice came, hissed from somewhere behind the bookcase.

Outside in the hallway, Loki's footsteps faded away, although I could still hear his voice. "Where are you, Eva? If you don't come out of hiding, there'll be no dinner for you."

"Over here." A small, pale hand waved at me, beckoning me over.

It took far too long to stride the distance, but Eva slid the book case forward, revealing a low tunnel.

"In here," she urged. "It's okay. Papa gets a bit moody sometimes. He gets a bit grumpy when I'm naughty." Her hand closed tight about mine, pulling me into the tunnel and sliding the bookcase back into place. "I try to be a good girl," she whispered, close to my ear. "I really do... but... I had to come back. I wanted to make sure you were okay. Come on." She tugged me into a darkness so profound that it was as though I'd gone blind. The walls pressed in close around me, catching an elbow here, a knee there. I stumbled and staggered behind her. Then came a light, a tiny pinprick glowing up ahead.

At first glance, it looked like a candle, small and squat, with a tiny flame flickering atop it. Closer inspection revealed a golden eye, peeking out from beneath the melted wax. As we entered the chamber, the flame flared brighter. Bright enough to illuminate a small cave, equipped as a hideaway, complete with: a pile of blankets, a small mountain of pillows, a stuffed pikachu (that looked slightly the worst for wear), and a rather battered collection of fairy tales.

It looked cosy, and even the short walk had exhausted me. I sunk down into the pile of pillows and hugged one to my chest. It felt so soft. It would be so easy to rest my head on them, to close my eyes and drift off...

"Litwick," Eva snapped. "Stop that at once. Don't take it from her – take it from me."

The candle flickered, the flame dying back.

"Sorry about that." Eva sat down beside me. "He's just excited to have a visitor. He didn't mean to hurt you."

"A litwick?" I blinked, feeling slightly more alert. "I've never seen one of those before."

Eva burst out laughing, then shoved her hand in her mouth to stifle the noise. "I'm sorry," she mumbled around her fist. "You sounded exactly like Ash."

"Well, I haven't." I must have sounded offended, because Eva's face flared red. "Sorry," I apologised immediately. "We're related. Distantly. It was he that inspired me to run away and become a Pokemon trainer, actually. But, well, I guess I'm a little jealous of his fame."

"You're related to Ash?" She stared at me, her eyes so wide that I'd swear, had this been the cartoon, they would have turned into stars.

"Distantly," I replied. "I haven't seen him in years." _And he was probably dead too. Dead – like everyone else._

"Is it true?" Eva whispered, as though she had picked up on the dark turn my thoughts had taken. "What Papa said? Did he really do all those terrible things?" She nestled into me, resting her head beneath my chin. In a move so trusting I could not help but feel touched. It wasn't like we knew each other, really. Or did we? She had cared for me through her entire life, after all; I was no stranger to her. I rested my hand on her hair, letting my fingers trail through the copper-red locks. "Is papa a villain?" she continued. "Like Jessie and James? You know, Team Rocket?"

I laughed at that – although not a particularly humorous one. Should I tell her? It wasn't exactly fair to lie to her, was it? "Loki WAS Team Rocket," I explained. "He had a partner named Freyja."

"Freyja." Eva savoured the word. "He spoke of her. She was his first true love. But she betrayed him, abandoned him when he needed her most, and joined his worst enemy."

Oh dear... that worst enemy had been us. And the last time I had seen beautiful Freyja, had been bidding her 'farewell' on the shore of Mewtwo's island. Loki had tormented her dreams, all but shattered her mind, and hollowed her into a fragile husk of the woman she had once been. Was she, too, now dead? I swallowed hard.

"Eva," I said. "Your father has done terrible things. He has hurt a lot of people – including people I care about very much. He's kept me unconscious for.."_ – Ten? Fifteen? Longer?_ – "... many years."

"You were asleep," she replied. "He said you needed it – that you were like Sleeping Beauty in the fairy tale, cursed to sleep until..."

"... Until the drugs ran out," I muttered. Certainly not a prince's kiss.

"Did he really destroy the world?" Her voice wobbled, tremulous. She was scared to hear the truth.

My heart ached. I was about to tear away her fragile innocence, and reveal her father for the monster he was. I shouldn't have felt guilty about it – Loki was the worst kind of monster, a psychopathic murderer with no love for anyone except himself, and – presumably – his daughter, but looking into those enormous blue eyes, with tears starting to shimmer at the corners... I stalled for time.

"Were you listening?"

She nodded. "I left, just like Papa asked me to, but, well, I know that sometimes Papa can be a bit moody, and you seemed scared of him... so I only pretended to leave. I stayed outside the curtain. And, I heard him talking about things – bad things like earthquakes and tsunami and... well, papa gets angry when I ask too many questions about where he goes and what he does. And I thought maybe that was what he was doing – maybe he was saving people from disasters. But he wasn't, was he?" She blinked quickly, tears trickling glistening trails down her cheeks. "You don't love him, do you?"

The sudden change of topic made me jerk in surprise. "No," I replied quietly. _I hate him with all my heart and soul._

"He lied about that too."

_What?!_

"He lied to me about _everything_." She blinked back the tears and I realised with a start that they were not tears of sorrow, they were tears of outrage. "He lied to me. He locked me up in this... this burrow, while out there people were dying terrible, violent deaths. I'm like Rapunzel," she concluded, chewing her lower lip thoughtfully. "Only my tower's upside-down and no prince is going to come and rescue me." Her eyes met mine, bright and determined. "We have to leave," she said. "But not so I can begin my Pokemon journey... No, we have to fix what my father's destroyed – we have to heal the world."

Brave words, and who was I to dissuade her? Had I been about her age – or maybe a teeny bit older – when I had set out to make my mark upon the world? And when Loki and Freyja had decided that my little Maki (oh how I missed him) would impress their boss (the same boss, might it be added, that good ol' Jessie and James decided required one certain pikachu). They'd hounded me, and my friend Rowan, and then I'd met Kameron.

Kameron who was also in Team Rocket.

He'd quit (or been fired, he'd never been completely clear about that), and we'd joined forces. Meanwhile, Loki had turned megalomaniac, Team Rocket's boss had been overthrown by an equally aspirant alakazam and things had, generally, gone from bad to worse. We'd been wounded, had Pokemon killed, and friends badly injured. Meanwhile Ash and his ever-changing group of Pokemon-loving buddies had continued the same endless quest of catching and imprisoning (or, to be fair, befriending) screes of different species of Pokemon, whilst his bumbling Team Rocket duo trailed along behind them. Okay, so maybe I was a bit bitter...

Still, I was alive, and he was, most likely, dead.

Like everyone else.

First things first, however.

"Loki said we're on an island, right? Aotearoa? If we're going to help fix the world, we need to find other people, yes?" That was, presuming, that we didn't just kill Loki in his sleep. But that wasn't something

Eva nodded sagely. "I think it's a pretty big job for just two of us. We're going to need help." She scrambled free of my grasp and started digging around in the pile of blankets, eventually unearthing another – rather more battered – Pokemon encyclopaedia. She opened it to a page near the front, holding it near litwick's flame. With the other hand she stifled a yawn.

"Arceus," I read. It was a strange looking beast, shaped not unlike a ponyta or absol, but with an elongated head crest, horns, and golden rings encircling its midrift.

"According to Sinnoh myth, Arceus was the first." Eva read aloud, although it was so dark, she must've been reciting from memory. "It emerged from its egg in a realm of nothing, and shaped the world with its 1,000 arms."

I squinted at the picture. "It doesn't have arms."

"Must be one of those... meta-things," Eva replied.

"Metaphor?"

"Yeh. Anyway, if we can go to the Sinnoh region and find the temple, we can awaken Arceus with a magic flute and he'll help piece the world back together." She winched as something thumped above them.

"Evangeline!" There was anger in Loki's voice now. "Where are you hiding her?"

"Does he get like this often?" I whispered, wrapping my arms around the girl. She had begun shaking.

"His moods?" she whimpered into my shoulder. "No. Papa's great. As long as I'm a good girl and do what I'm told, and don't wake him when he's sleeping or ask too many questions. But... Sometimes he gets grumpy. Usually I hide here and wait until he calms down. Or leaves."

"Kataryna! What have you done with my daughter? What lies are you feeding her?"

The litwick's flame stuttered, as though even he were fearful.

"He can't find us here, can he?"

Eva head shook, her hair tickling my nose. "I don't think so," she fingers tightened about my arm.

We huddled in the darkness, Eva curled up against me, her little body shivering with silent sobs. Outside, thumps and thuds. A low rumble, and the earth beneath us shuddered as though it were awakening from slumber. Eva squeaked, muffling the sound with her hand. Litwick's flame flared then died down to a tiny glowing pinprick.

After an eternity, silence. Eva wriggled out of my arms. She held out both hands, palms up, and Litwick jumped into them. "Litwick," she whispered. "You know what to do. Thank you."

The tiny candle nodded, saluted her with equally tiny arms, and jumped up onto a narrow ledge, before disappearing into a tunnel. Darkness enshrouded us.

"We've got a few hours now, before Papa will come after us," Eva explained. She didn't elaborate, and I dared not ask – but how was one tiny candle Pokemon going to stop a god?

Eva's hand brushed my arm, found my hand, and tugged me to my feet. I was beginning to feel better. The heavy tiredness that had encapsulated me appeared to be lifting. A rustling, and something was pressed into my arms.

"Put this on."

It was a backpack, packed full, and fairly heavy. "You're prepared," I remarked.

Eva's laugh was gentle and sweet. "Yes," she said. "I've been waiting for you to wake up for a very long time. So that we could escape together and I could begin my Pokemon journey. Are you strong enough to walk?" The kindness in her voice made my heart ache.

"I think so. Where are we going?"

"Outside," Eva replied. "We're leaving the island."

Together, we stepped off into the darkness. An awkward kind of shuffle on my part, for the ground was littered with pebbles, and narrow rock ridges that threatened to trip me. Eva stepped through it all with the careful precision of someone well used to the route. At several points we were forced to crawl up steep slopes, and squeeze through narrow tunnels, and I can tell you that now, that was terrifying. I was a lot larger than Eva, and those walls felt awfully tight. I focused on taking deep breathes and thinking ahead. What would happen once we got outside?

It felt as though we walked, crawled and clambered through the darkness for hours, but in truth it was probably less than 20 minutes. Then, light again, and sound. A sound gentle, soothing, and familiar. Waves.

The world was dim, it must be twilight, or perhaps early morning, but I still found myself blinking furiously. Sand shifted beneath my feet. Sand, and something lighter, flakier, almost like leaves? I breathed deep, inhaling the rich tang of salt air, intermingled with the dry dust of cinders. Looking up, thick grey clouds filled the sky, a thunderstorm looming? Beyond them, a pale glowing circle high in the sky indicated it was midday. Flakes drifted down, gently borne on the warm sea breeze. I caught one on my finger, and it disintegrated into dust with one tap. Not snow.

Ash.

The air was filled with smoke, and ash fell from the sky. We stood in a barren landscape. Massive boulders had been torn from the cliffs behind us and scattered on the ground like discarded toys. Not only boulders though: buildings too. Timber, bricks, strange twisted pieces of metal, a crushed bicycle, all littered the beach.

Was it even a beach? Was that not a strip of tarseal? Spider-webbed with cracks and pebbled with potholes?

The waves hungrily lapped amongst the detritus, as though greedy to swallow more of the landscape. But it was the silence that felt most profound to me: no screeching of wingull, no distant hum of traffic or burr of insects calling to one another. No birdsong. Nothing but the gentle sussuration of the waves, the muted rustle of the wind, and the quiet clinking as we stepped cautiously across the tiny fragments of shattered glass.

I really wished I'd had more suitable footwear than slippers. Eva, despite being barefoot, and burdened under a backpack of her own, forged ahead. "Ampharos," she called softly.

"Am-phar!" The response came at once, so close that I almost leapt out of my skin. The electric sheep Pokemon raced out from the metal husk of a SUV and raced to wrap his stubby arms around Eva in an enthusiastic hug. "Am-phar-phar-phar," he insisted, examining her arms, her face.

"I'm fine," she laughed. "Not hurt, thanks to you. Do you think you could send the message? Call for help? We haven't got long. Litwick's strong, but it won't take long for Papa to break free from him."

Ampharos nodded and – still holding Eva with one hand – turned his face to the sky. His eyes narrowed in deep concentration. A red flare of light leapt from the gem, spearing up through the ash clouds as a glowing beacon.

"Who's he calling?" I wondered.

Eva didn't answer, just stared out across the waves. I felt as though I were caught up in an adventure that was not my own – but that made sense, I guessed. After all, children were the stars of the Pokemon franchise, we adults were merely there to go act as sidekicks and advisers.

Or occasionally villains.  
A low, ominous rumble came from somewhere deep us. It seemed primal, and made the hairs on the back of my neck prickle and my body tense in instinctual anticipation. A moment later, a shiver passed through the earth, followed by a sharp jolt. I dropped to my knees as pebbles rained down the cliffs behind us.

"It's just an earthquake." Eva didn't even turn to look at me. "Papa must've beaten Litwick. Come here." She held out one hand to me. I hastened to her side and took it in my own.

The two things happened at once.

Behind us, another rumble, followed by a sharper, more violent jolting that physically threw me to the ground. The rock behind me groaned, and stones – some as large as Eva's fist – showered down on us, bruising my shoulders, my back. A torrent of flame erupted from the tunnel's mouth.

And an immense wave rose from the ocean. The force of it bowed us from our feet. Steam rose in a hissing cloud as we were tugged out to sea. An immense monster rose from the depth, opened its glistening maw.

And gulped us up.

Now, I've been in some pretty unpleasant places – volcanic tunnels, spooky rotting houses, an arctic wasteland – but I have to tell you, being inside the mouth of the biggest Pokemon I had ever seen trumped them all. It stank; I would be wearing a permanent aroma of eau de rotting fish for the foreseeable future. If there was a foreseeable future. I had dropped to my knees, and the floor (which was, of course, the monster's tongue) felt precisely like raw meat. That, combined with the odour, had me struggling to keep my breakfast fully contained. Oddly enough, there was air, and the monster had not swallowed us. Eva and I were still clutching one another, and the dim light from Ampharos's gem cast a hazy red glow about it. Enough to illuminate the creature's teeth, ivory pillars that lined the upper jaw. From a zoological perspective, it was rather interesting.

From a practical perspective – totally gross.

Sound was muffled, and breathing through my nose brought in the terrible stink, breathing through my mouth added in a distinctly fishy after taste. I suppose I should be grateful that we had air at all.

The creature made a crooning noise, a low, bass rumble that vibrated through my entire body, and we were thrown up, against the ceiling (like being slapped with a raw steak), them tumbled together in a chaotic mix of arms and legs.

The creature must have dived beneath the waves.

Pressure throbbed painfully in my ears.

A minute later, or perhaps five or ten or even twenty, we began rising again. Finally, just when the air was starting to taste stale and sleepiness threatened to drag me under, the mighty jaws cracked open, and we tumbled from the sky, to land with a splash in... a swimming pool?

Hands were reaching for us, helping us out of the water, a towel was wrapped across my shoulders.

"Wailord, return!" A voice called from somewhere up above. A dark-haired man standing on the railing above us, holding a Pokeball above his head. A flash, as the gigantic monster was recalled.

"Are you all right?" my attendant asked. He was tall, slender, with tousled blond hair and large glasses, which enhanced his blue eyes rather than detract from them.

"I think so," I replied. My ears still ached, but oh, how good the salty tang of the air tasted. "Where are we?"

He laughed. "Not inclined to exchange pleasantries then. Direct to the questions." A half-smile. "I like that. This is the good ship Sanctuary. Once the cruise ship known as S.S. Anne. Now repurposed to trawl the oceans in search of survivors."

"How did you find us?" I asked.

He shook his head with a laugh, then offered me his hand. "Hi," he said, "I'm Clemont. And you must be?"

"Sorry," I replied, wiping my hand on the towel before accepting and shaking his. "It's been rather a strange few weeks. I'm Kataryna. And this is..."

I turned to find Eva, staring up at Clemont with eyes that almost bulged out of her head. "You're Clemont." She sounded amazed. "For science, Clemont?"

"Ah yes," he replied. "But that was a long time ago now. Before– " he gestured one-handed at the ash-laden sky. "You've seen the show?"

"Every single episode. Five times!" Eva beamed. "Where's Bonnie? She's my favourite."

Clemont's expression changed from one of amusement to sorrow. "She's gone," he replied.

"Oh." Eva shuffled, examining her bare feet. "I'm sorry," she said.

"Thank you," Clemont replied quietly, reaching out to squeeze her shoulder. "One day I'll find her again. But first... speaking of science, we need to reactivate the chameleon shields. Delphina has strongly implied that someone would come after you." He charged off across the deck, snapping his fingers and shouting commands.

Eva stared after him, her eyes wide.

A moment later, what appeared to be some sort of light shield arched across above us. "Wow," she whispered, sounding awestruck. "Science is amazing." Then, after a short pause. "We're not going to blow up, are we?"

Clemont, walking back past, laughed and reached down to ruffle her hair. "Once," he said. "Once something actually, genuinely blew up." He rolled his eyes. "And the producers loved it, they thought it was hilarious... so it became a bit of a running gag. Long after it stopped being even slightly amusing..." He groaned. "Don't worry yourself about it. My science is safe. We're safe." He crouched down beside her. "You remind me of Bonnie actually, when she was younger. What's your name?"

"Evangeline," she replied. "But my friends call me Eva."

"Can I call you Eva?" he asked, seriously.

She nodded, blushing a bit with the pleasure of actually being asked. "I'd like that."

"Excellent." He grinned at her. "And is that your Ampharos, Eva?" He nodded at the now-dried off ampharos, who was taking his guard duty very seriously and standing quietly behind her.

"Yes."

"He's a very fine specimen," Clemont said. "And he obviously cares for you very much indeed."

"He does. And I care for him too."

"That's what true friendship is all about," Clemont stood, and turned his attention to me. "I'd like to offer Eva a tour of the ship, if that's okay with you?"

"Please," Eva added quietly.

Why was he asking me for permission? Oh right, yes, because we'd arrived together and they probably thought I was her mother. Well, I was her mother. Probably. I nodded quickly, before my thoughts overwhelmed me. "Yes, yes of course, that's absolutely fine." What would be the responsible thing to say now? Oh yes, that was right, "Ampharos has to go too."

"Of course," Clemont replied. "And so could you, if you wished?" There was something a little hopeful in his tone, but in truth, I was exhausted.

"Maybe later," I replied, trying not to read too much into the disappointment that flashed in his eyes. "I think I'd like to lie down. Rest a while."

"Oh yes, of course." Concern replaced disappointment. He'd probably just realised how skeletal I was. Hell, even my bones ached. "Alice," he called, "would you be so kind as to escort Kataryna to a cabin?"

A girl scurried over. She wore mismatched clothes – a shirt far too large for her small frame, belted at the waist over striped leggings – and her dark hair was braided into plaits that fell to her waist. She could have been maybe 14 or 15. Older than Eva, certainly. She flashed me an uncertain smile. "Where would you like her to be assigned?"

"Check with the steward, but I'd like her as close to the infirmary as possible." He glanced at me. "Just in case."

In case of what? Did I look that bad? I followed Alice quietly. A bed actually sounded very good indeed.

My feet were dragging heavily, and I was all but leaning against the walls to stay upright, when Alice finally secured a keycard for me, and showed me to my cabin. The beds were the first thing I saw, twin singles, the porthole between them. To reach them, I passed a miniscule bathroom, and an equally petite lounge area with desk and sofa. I heaved my backpack onto it.

"Dinner is at 1900," Alice informed me. "We use solar and electric Pokemon to power the ship. To conserve energy, please limit any showers to no more than three minutes." She shot me a shy smile. "We hope you enjoy your stay aboard the S.O.S. Sanctuary."

I hardly heard what she'd said, my feet had taken control, directed me to a bed and permitted me to collapse, exhausted upon it.

"How many people are there here?" I asked, stifling a yawn of complete exhaustion.

"At last census, 927," she replied. "The survivors of the Lumiose City tsunami make up the majority of passengers, but we've picked up other refugees where we can."

My eyelids sagged heavily, and I blinked furiously. There was one question I needed answered before I gave in to sleep. "How did you know where to find us?"

"Delphina," she replied, somewhat curtly. "She's an oracle. Has prophetic dreams." She pondered for a moment, then recited from memory:

"From the direst of wrongs, there comes a right,

one who truly walks in the light.

Wait for her, full moon's third night,

Be prepared; no triumph comes without a fight."  
As she said the last word, a shudder passed through the ship. Adrenaline jerked me awake. "He's found us. What's your strongest Pokemon?" I tried to push myself off the bed, but Alice shook her head.

"You're weak," she said. "You cannot help. Stay here." She hurried from the room.

"Water Pokemon," I called after her, swinging my feet to the ground, levering myself from the bed, grabbing the headboard with one hand, as dizziness threatened to engulf me. "Fire is his strongest element. He's weak against water."

The door slammed shut, and I wasn't sure she'd heard me.

I tried to follow, but found the energy had left me. Instead, I slumped on the bed, unable to do anything but stare out the tiny window. They'd given me a room on the upper levels, and I could see – through the rainbow shimmer of the protective shield – the dark shadow that was Loki, flapping across the ash-laden sky like a deformed bird. Sparks surrounded his hands in an eerie halo. Lightning arced, striking the water. Electricity danced across the surface of the water.

Another Pokemon flickered into existence, released from its ball. A small – oddly familiar – pink form with an elongated, frill-edged tail. It hovered in the air for a second, before a glow surrounded it, and it transformed into a massive blue, finned serpent. A gyarados!

A glowing beam of light erupted from its gaping maw, striking Loki full force and flinging him backwards. His wings flapped uselessly, and he struck the surface of the water, bouncing twice. I pressed myself against the glass, struggling to see him either sink or recover. Another Pokemon erupted from the water – the massive wailord! – and swallowed him whole.

An eerie grinding surrounded us. Had we been hit? Were we sinking? My fingers tangled in the sheets, grabbing hanks of cloth as though that would help. Waves splashed against the window, hazing my view.

"Attention passengers." A woman's voice boomed over the P.A., I jolted, almost fell off the bed. "The S.S. Sanctuary is about to dive. Please return to your cabins and prepare for descent." I glanced around: prepare for descent? How was I supposed to do that?

Also, a cruise ship descending?

My flailing fingers found the small chest of drawers between the two beds, a folder rested on the top shelf, "Welcome to the S.S. Sanctuary" transcribed on the cover in three different languages. Hands shaking, I opened it, flicking through the pages. The information I needed was on the third page: "In the event of environmental events on the surface, the S.S. Sanctuary is capable of descending to a depth of 200 feet. If such an event is to occur, please return to your cabins. These are pressurised for your comfort." It then went on to explain some of the 'side effects' of descent, like pain in the ears and teeth. The waves lapped against my window. Through them, I saw the shape of the great wailord, twisting and writhing on the surface of the water. The ship rocked furiously, battered by water displaced by the mighty behemoth.

There came a low, hollow BOOM. A concussive wave swept across the water, almost tipping the cruise-ship-come-submarine over.

The whale exploded!

Flames licked greedily across the water, evaporating in a wall of steam. Great hunks of meat rained down on the ocean. A large chunk of it struck the water near my swiftly-sinking viewing port. It was easily the size of a small car.

I was powerless to do anything, to help at all, as Loki rose from the flames, a great fiery angel of fury. His hands thrust forward, flames licking his fingers, congealing into a ball of blue-hot flame. Loki drew one hand back, as though to lob the fireball at us.

And the ocean swallowed us, drawing us down into its depths.

I do not believe we sank particularly deeply. Pressure still swelled in my head, causing that same tooth to ache. I should probably visit a dentist soon. Did dentists still exist? Underwater, everything seemed calmer, almost subdued. If Loki were still attacking us, it was impossible to tell. A lanturn swam past, light flickering.

I allowed myself to sink back into the blissful softness of the bed and, as the adrenaline drained away, so too did my energy. No matter how I blinked, it was a struggle to keep my eyes open, and even the occasional jolt of the submerged cruise ship did little to rouse me. Mostly the gentle rocking motion seemed almost soothing, and I drifted away on the wings of a sort of semi-drugged half-sleep.

A quiet rapping on the door stirred me from slumber. It took me a moment – a very pleasant moment – to remember who I was and where we were. Then reality crashed back around me with grim clarity.

"Who's there?" My voice came out broken and croaked. I coughed, tried again. "Come in."

The door creaked open, wide enough to admit an overly excited Eva. She raced across the room, and bounced onto the other bed in excitement.

"We dove!" she shrieked. "The ship went below the waves! Clemont says he converted it. Because, he suspected we'd encounter a situation exactly like this! Clemont's amazing; he's like a genius or something! This ship is massive! It's a giant maze!"

I've never heard anyone use so many exclamation marks before. Eva's enthusiasm was almost enough to buoy me up with it. I managed to sit up, and hugged one of the pillows to my chest. Outside the window, all I could see was water, and bubbles. No fish Pokemon. Was that unusual?

"Did you get the tour before or after we submerged?" I asked.

"After!" she replied. "When the alarm went off, I was really scared that Papa had found us, and that he'd destroy the ship and take me back home. I can't live in a cave any more, Mama. I just can't."

"Please," I said, "I'd prefer if you called me Kat." I didn't want my name linked with Loki's anymore than was necessary. "What else did you see?"

"There's a garden! They're growing tomatoes and razzberries and even pineapps. Their sunstone is really bright. No more potatoes! It even has an irrigation system to make it rain!"

"I like potatoes," I said softly. "But that sounds great. I hope I get to see it soon."

"Clemont could take you." She rolled over onto her front, elbows on the edge of the bed, heels resting on her bottom. "He's really nice. Much nicer than Papa. I know why Bonnie kept trying to find ladies to look after him," she added wistfully. "He seems sort of sad – lonely even."

"I'm sure he's perfectly capable of looking after himself."

"Maybe." Eva frowned thoughtfully.

"What else did you see?" I interjected, in an attempt to distract her from further match-making.

"There's a library!" she said. "And not only for books! While Clemont was modifying the ship, to help the survivors of Lumiose. The cruise ship was dry-docked nearby when the tsunami struck.. The city was destroyed completely." She looked suitably solemn. "But the cruise ship survived with only a little damage. Clemont and some other engineers fixed it up and made it even better than it was. Anyway, while they were doing that, the other survivors searched the ruined city for anything that might be useful. There's books, computers, tools, toys, and all sorts of things, and anyone can borrow them for a little while if they need them."

"Pokemon?" I ventured.

"Some," Eva replied. "But I wasn't allowed to see them. Clemont said that they have to be kept in their Pokeballs, in a special room called a quarantine."

The word sent a shiver down my spine – and not only because I felt bad for Pokemon trapped in the nothing-statis that the Pokeball offered. "Where's Ampharos?" I asked, suddenly aware of his missing presence.

"Clemont asked Nurse Joy to give him an examination," Eva explained. "She said it was important that he not be contaminated."

Contaminated with what? I wondered. But I didn't want Eva to worry too much about her first – and for the longest time, only – friend.

"Don't worry," she continued. "Clemont says that fire and electric Pokemon were pretty much immune." She shrugged. "I'm not sure what it means, but it sounded like a good thing."

Before I had much chance to wonder further on that, a melodious trio of notes rang out over the P.A. system, followed by an announcement. "Attention, citizens of the S.S. Sanctuary. We have now safely descended to a depth of 50 metres, and have moved swiftly away from the disturbances on the surface. The pressure has been stabilised and you are now free to leave your cabins and make your way to the dining hall, where dinner will be served in 20 minutes."

"Dinner?" My stomach rumbled in response. "Well, I suppose we'd better go." I wasn't sure I was up to meeting many more people – but at least I felt rather better rested now. "Did Clemont happen to show you the way to the dining hall?"

Eva nodded. She flung her backpack onto one of the beds and began scrabbling through it, pulling out clothes, food and more stuff than I was sure would fit in such a small bag.

Twenty minutes was just enough time for both of us to have super quick showers - at least my hair was so stupidly short that I didn't have to do more than rub shampoo through it. I brushed my teeth with the complimentary toothbrush, studying myself in the mirror. Still pale and far too thin, but it'd have to do. My clothes were quite ruined; the wailord's saliva had made them stiff and they smelt of fish. Luckily, there was a colourful, light cotton robe hanging in the closet - it was too long and made me look like a scarecrow, but it was delightfully clean – and a change of undergarments in my backpack. We were ready – or as ready as we'd ever be.

Eva eagerly played the guide, leading me through a maze-like array of tunnels. Most of the doors were numbered and closed – likely other cabins. We passed the medical bay, descended several flights of stairs, and found ourselves in a cavernous room. The tables were round, and bolted securely to the floor. Tableclothes in varying colours and designs were draped across them. People flooded in from various entryways, some made beelines for particular tables, others hovered, as though unsure. We hovered, very unsure.

"Do we just sit anywhere?" I asked Eva.

Instead of answering, Eva just put her hand in mine. She was shivering. How could I be so stupid? Here was a girl who'd known only two people in her entire life, prior to today. And I'd been asleep for most of it! She'd seemed fine with Clemont, because he was – honestly – completely lovely. But she'd never been caught up in the midst of this sort of human zoo before.

"A corner seat?" I suggested. "Somewhere near a window?"

Eva nodded mutely and squeezed my hand.

I guided her, feeling almost like I was shielding her diminutive form, towards one of the window seat. Being pressed close the the wall, it could only hold three chairs, and that suited us fine. Eva scurried into the very corner, sat with her back against the wall, and immediately turned her gaze out the porthole. I eased myself in a little slower. The chairs were not well padded, and nor was I. Outside, nothing but the deep blue of the ocean. No fish, no Pokemon of any kind. Not outside – and not in the hall either.

Back in Siryntown University, where I had been studying Pokemon Ecology before... well, before everything, it had been unusual to not see Pokemon. My dorm room had been all but overflowing with them; neither me nor my friends were a fan of Pokeballs. The grounds were pretty much infested with pidgey, and even wild rattata were not an uncommon sight. But here... here there were just people.

"Why hello there lovely lady," came a voice. "Mind if I join you?"

I looked up, and into the eyes of a tousle-haired man. He looked to be in his mid-twenties, and I wondered why he'd be flirting with me. Then I remembered... I was old now. There was something extremely familiar about him too.

His eyes widened, at the same time as I recognised him.

"Kataryna?" His voice cracked a little, and he pulled out the chair, sitting down without waiting for our answer. "What are you doing here? We thought you must be dead." His gaze turned to Eva, who had folded her knees up to her chest and was hugging them. "Who's she." He blinked twice, forehead creasing. "She's not yours is she?"

I may have only known Eva for a few weeks, and barely even considered myself to be an adult, but anger still flared at his comment. "Yes," I replied. "She is. Her name is Evangeline." I turned my attention to Eva. "Eva, this is Rowan. Please excuse his behaviour, it appears he still hasn't learned how to properly respect females."

Rowan blushed and studied his hands. "Still quite the razor-edged tongue, Kat," he said, and nodded formally at Eva. "My apologies young lady."

"It's okay," Eva mumbled. "You know mama? Were you one of her companions?"

Rowan grinned at that, and it still had all the boyish charm I remembered only too well from our early days – before he'd become a greaseball teenager. "I suppose I was?"

"Like in the television show." I prodded him with my bony elbow, and felt vindicated when he winched. "How Ash had Misty and Brock."

"Oh, right. So who am I then? Misty or Brock."

"Definitely Brock," Eva replied. She seemed to be warming, somewhat, to him.

"Thank you," he replied. Although I wasn't sure Eva considered it a compliment. "Anyway, Kataryna, please, do fill us in – whatever happened to you? Last time we saw you, Loki was snatching you away. And what have you done with your hair?"

"There's not much to tell," I replied. "And I'd rather not talk about my time as Loki's captive. Needless to say, I escaped." I purposely kept Eva's paternity to myself, although I could see Rowan was desperately curious, the question on the tip of his tongue. I caught his eye and shook my head.

"I'm hungry," Eva whispered. Although I couldn't say for sure, I had the feeling that she, too, felt the urge to change the topic. A glance around and I realised there were people, queued up at a counter, scooping their own food. A buffet then.

"Would you like to stay here?" I asked Eva. "And make sure no-one takes our seat? I'll bring you back some. Rowan, come with me." No way was I leaving him with her, and risk that he'd barrage her with questions. Rowan and I had been best friends, once, a lifetime ago. But the death of his father had changed him. And not for the better.

Eva nodded her ascent, watching us walk away with wide, slightly frightened eyes. She was still hugging her knees and I could not help but feel like I was abandoning her.

"So, who's the dad?" Rowan asked, as soon as we were out of earshot. "Not Kameron, that's for sure."

I scowled at him. "None of your business," said through gritted teeth.

"Fair enough," he replied, although he sounded slightly stung. "You can trust me, Kat, you know that, right?"

"Let's just say it's been a rough few years."

"For all of us," he responded. "What with the threat of global war, then the outbreak of the plague, and all the natural disasters. You haven't got the monopoly on sorrow." He studied my expression carefully. "Wait, you don't know anything about any of that, do you? The earthquakes, the tsunamis... the wildfires that ravaged Australia and America?" He paused, attempting to make me meet his gaze. I flinched away. "You don't know about the plague either, do you?"

I shook my head.

"Shit," he muttered, then, "Sorry. Only... Damn, where have you been hiding?"

"Aotearoa," I replied. "Not hiding. Hidden."

"You've only just escaped, haven't you?"

Rowan was proving to be infuriatingly perceptive. I pushed past him, grabbed a bowl and joined the queue. He stood beside me, silent in contemplation. Then finally, whispered, "How long did Loki hold you captive, Kat?"

I shrugged, my attention focused intently on the bowl in my hands. "How long ago was I kidnapped?"

"Fifteen years gone," he replied.

My heart skipped a beat. _Fifteen_ years?!

Rowan swore again. "Damn Kat. That bastard had you for fifteen years. That means..." A glance across at Eva, a quick shake of his head. "It's like Beauty and the freakin' Beast."

"It's not," I replied quickly. "And Eva is a sweet child."


End file.
